By Ms. Editors | Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025, marks 104 years since the 19th Amendment was certified, recognizing women’s constitutional right to vote. But anniversaries like Women’s Equality Day are not just about looking back. They remind us of unfinished business.
After helping securing women’s right to vote, leading suffragist Alice Paul in 1923 drafted the original version of the Equal Rights Amendment. Paul and other women’s rights activists believed the right to vote was only a first step and that full legal equality required constitutional protection through an amendment guaranteeing equal rights for all sexes.
Last week in Knoxville, Tenn., activists unveiled the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Heritage Trail Museum—just blocks from where, in 1920, Tennessee cast the deciding vote to ratify the 19th Amendment. That museum honors the suffragists who fought for decades, often facing ridicule, arrest and violence.
A century later, in 2020, Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the ERA (the would-be 28th Amendment), crossing the threshold for constitutional equality. Many hoped it would finally cement gender equality in law. Five years later, the ERA still has not been recognized by Congress—and the broader political climate shows why it’s needed. Abortion rights have been rolled back in many states, health clinics defunded, miscarriage care criminalized, and voting access restricted.
Some leaders are going further: Earlier this month, Trump’s defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, reposted a video of evangelical pastors calling for repeal of the 19th Amendment. The message was clear: Undermining women’s voting power remains a goal for the far right.
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